


If It Could be Ours Alone

by deliciousshame



Series: AoKuro Week 2016 [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: AoKuro Week, AoKuro Week 2016, College, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-06-07 21:18:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6824722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deliciousshame/pseuds/deliciousshame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, on the way to one of his classes, Tetsuya will ponder on how he's the closest he's ever been to Aomine-kun, and yet how unattainable he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If It Could be Ours Alone

**Author's Note:**

> For day one of AoKuro Week 2016, prompts: college and “those hardest to love need it most.”

Tetsuya unwraps his arms from Aomine-kun's shoulders and lies back into the sheets, still damp with their sweat. He stares at the ceiling while Aomine-kun rises to take a shower. He's too drained to move just yet, so he just stretches to pick up his phone and messes with it a little. 

He missed a text from Takeda-san about their project due next week. He's still texting her when the door closes, the only clue signaling Aomine-kun's departure.

There’s nothing strange about any of it. 

_____________________

“Ah! I made it.”

Kobayashi-kun did make it. The joy of evening lectures is that they’re held after practice. He often arrives slightly late. That’s okay. Tetsuya just shares his notes with him if he missed anything important. 

The lecture starts and ends without much happening. 

Kobayashi-kun invites him to get a coffee before they head back to their respective home. His hand reaches for him but lingers in the air, like he changed his mind and now has no idea what to do with it. 

Tetsuya turns him down gently, like he usually does. 

Just because he doesn’t have a boyfriend doesn’t mean he’s free to get one. 

____________________________________

"Oh yeah, I’m not coming back here. I'm seeing this girl, you wouldn't believe the rack on her."

So, the usual. “Good luck with that.”

Aomine-kun hits his shoulder. “Ass.” 

Well, whatever. He’ll be back soon enough. That’s a recurring pattern. 

____________________________________

It’s three o’clock in the morning and there’s frantic knocking coming from his front door. Damn him, he has to go to the university early next morning, he doesn’t have the time to nurse both Aomine-kun’s broken heart and his hangover (again, again, again). 

He knew this would happen.

____________________________________

"You should bring him."

The non sequitur throws him off, but not that much. "Who?"

"Your boyfriend."

He cringes before he can suppress it. Whatever Aomine-kun is to him, his boyfriend isn’t it. 

"Oh please, we all know. No one minds, so just bring him around. I'm curious to see what he's like."

It was just supposed to be a party to celebrate the successful completion of their team's project. Nothing too complicated, just the few of them meeting at a bar. Except Takeda-san wanted to bring her boyfriend, and then so did Sasaki-san, and then Sakamoto-kun had friends from another class that needed the distraction, and so before he knew it it became a major thing and Yamato-san thought it appropriate to ask him that question. "No."

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun! I promised I won't embarrass you in front of him. Well, not too much." 

The discussion has attracted the attention of most of their friends, Takeda-san looking slightly worried, Kobayashi-kun not bothering to hide his interest in the subject. "Please don't ask me that." He already knows how it'd turn out; Aomine-kun would try to laugh away his answer, some variation of "No way, we're not like that and I'm not gay".

"But-"

"Let it go, Michiko."

Damn it. His discomfort is visible enough that Sasaki-san found it necessary to interfere. The subject is instantly dropped, but only for now.

____________________________________

“If you’re worried about Koyabashi, I think he’d be fine. He has to deal with it anyway.”

At least Sasaki-san is more rational than Yamato-san. "Thank you for worrying, but he has nothing to do with it.”

She sighs. "It's just, why do you date a guy you don't want to be seen with?"

Tetsuya would love to be seen with Aomine-kun. That's not the problem. 

"Oh. He doesn't want to be seen with you."

Ouch. Said bluntly like that, it hurts worse than he expected it would. It’s not exactly new information after all.

"Look, it's none of my business, but you deserve better than that."

Sasaki-san really needs to stop acting like she’s everyone’s big sister. "You're right, it's none of your business."

The thing is, she's not wrong. There's no future in their relationship. There never has been. 

Maybe it’s time he faces that.

Sasaki-san is long gone when he pull out his phone and fires a quick text to Kobayashi-kun regarding his plans for the next weekend. 

____________________________________

“That was a great match.”

Aomine-kun snorts. “Yeah, that proves you weren’t watching it. It was terrible.”

“I didn’t mean it was a great match for you. Kagami-kun was in excellent form. ”

“Ha ha, asshole.”

Aomine-kun is already in a fool mood. That won’t make things easier, but postponing this conversation (again, again, again) won’t make things better. 

Maybe the burgers will help. 

They eat mostly in silence, Aomine-kun still in his head, thinking back on the match he just lost, Tetsuya pondering on how to make the break as clean and painless as possible. He doesn’t want to lose Aomine-kun. He just thinks it’d be better if he wasn’t sharing his bed whenever he felt like it anymore. 

They finish eating, and, like Tetsuya expected, Aomine-kun turns to follow him to his place, objective: work through that irritation. “Not tonight, Aomine-kun.”

Aomine-kun lets out this little sound under his breath, very audible to him. “Tetsu, that’s my line. Don’t mess with me now.”

And that rubs Tetsuya in all the wrong ways, because Aomine-kun doesn’t get to take him for granted when he doesn’t even care. Or when he cares about all the wrong things and the wrong people, but not about him. “You’re not coming. In fact, you’re not coming anymore. At all. Get yourself a girlfriend that can stand you more than a few weeks and then go bother her all the time instead of me.”

Aomine-kun stands there, frozen, too many things battling on his face for one to come out, but Tetsuya couldn’t care less, he doesn’t want to hear any of them. “Goodbye.” 

He leaves him here, standing in front of Maji Burger, and at the moment doesn’t regret it at all.

____________________________________

His date with Kobayashi-kun goes pretty well. Kobayashi-kun is nice and very considerate. 

____________________________________

“Congratulations on finally ditching Aomine.”

Tetsuya sighs. It feels like he’s always sighing lately. “For the last time, we weren’t dating. You can’t ditch someone you’re not dating.”

Kagami-kun is rolling his eyes at him. Really. “Yeah, right. That’s why he’s been either shitty or destroying everyone for weeks on the court, because his not-boyfriend did not leave. Must have been one of his beards then.” 

“Those weren’t beards. They really were Aomine-kun’s girlfriends.”

“Like real women would want to date that. Not everyone has your terrible tastes.”

“I can’t deny that. Obviously I have terrible tastes in friends, since we’re having this discussion right now. And don’t lie, you two are friends now. You have terrible taste too.”

“At least I wasn’t sleeping with him!”

“Point.”

“See! Now you admit it!”

“I just said we weren’t dating, that’s all.”

Kagami-kun’s face crunches in confusion. “That’s what I… Oh, gross. Too much information. Ugh.”

Thanks god, that means they’re done with this conversation. 

Still, he’s honestly surprised to hear Aomine-kun is still affected. He was sure he’d get over it quickly once he was done with his first temper tantrum. 

Well, that’s not his problem anymore. 

____________________________________

“Tetsuuuu, why do you hate meeee?”

Of course Aomine-kun is the one person to call him at this hour, and of course he’s dead drunk.

It takes quite a lot for him not to just hang up. Probably just as much as it does to reply. “Aomine-kun, go to bed.”

“Not before you answer me.” He keeps slurring. 

“Kuroko, is that you? Sorry, can you come pick up the idiot? I can’t leave the party right now, and he’s bothering everyone. The bouncer is gonna throw him out soon.”

“…Kagami-kun, do I have to?”

“Wow, that’s really whiny for you. Yes, you have to. Do you want to take responsibility for Aomine drunk and alone in the streets? Do you?”

“...I’ll come. Where are you?” Damn Aomine-kun. 

“That bar near Aomine’s college, you know, the one beside the takoyaki place? …And talk to him, would you? He’s insufferable lately.”

“He’s drunk.”

“Tomorrow then. Just do it.”

“See you later, Kagami-kun.”

At least Aomine didn’t usually have the gall to make him fetch him. He could usually drag himself to this place without problem.

He’s almost pleased to find him pretty much passed out, even if dragging him around is a pain. 

Aomine-kun never gave him a key of his own apartment (even though he demanded one of his), so he dumps him on the sofa, goes to bed and tries (and mostly fails) not to feel guilty about it. 

____________________________________

It’s the noise from the room next door that wakes Tetsuya up, vague fragments of “What the hell” and the “The fuck did I drink last night” reaching him.

He gets out of his bed against his own will and makes for Aomine-kun.

Aomine-kun bathing in the first rays of the sun is not a familiar sight. He never stayed the night. That doesn’t make him less lovely to look at, though everything would be so much easier if it were. He’s not even at his best, the alcohol and the sofa having made sure he didn’t get a very restful night.

“Tetsu. What am I doing at your place?”

“You were too drunk for Kagami-kun to deal with, so he called for reinforcement. Now that you’re awake, feel free to go anytime.”

“Wow, cold. You’re not even gonna offer me breakfast before I go?” 

“No.” That wouldn’t be a good idea. Nothing about being alone with Aomine-kun while the wound is still open and bleeding is a good idea. 

Aomine-kun… sneers, he thinks. “I must have done something really bad for you to stop being polite. Too bad I have no idea what the hell I did so wrong.”

His first reflex is to answer “You did nothing wrong”, except that wouldn’t be true; they both did everything wrong. If he wanted… more with Aomine-kun, then he shouldn’t have let him in his bed, that first time when they’d both been just tipsy enough for Aomine-kun to offer, with just enough seriousness in his voice to let him know his offer wasn’t a joke only if he didn’t want it to be, and Tetsuya had said yes because no, he didn’t want it to be, and the rest had been easy, the way their friendship had been at the beginning, until they’d become too entwined in each other’s lives for them to pull back without it hurting (again, again, again), but not in the way that mattered to Tetsuya. 

But it was also Aomine-kun’s fault, Aomine-kun, who had first offered but had never made any effort to, to cherish him, who treated him, them, like a convenient extension of their friendship while never really wondering about the consequences, and that was what Tetsuya couldn’t stand anymore, so he answers with “I have a boyfriend now” and it’s a lie, sorry Kobayashi-kun, but it’ll do for now. 

Aomine-kun is not impressed. “What, that’s it? Why not tell me that in the first place, I do that all the time. No need to cut me off like you did.”

He doesn’t understand. Of course he doesn’t, he never did. It’s incredibly aggravating. “No, I needed to. If I were to date someone else, I needed you as far as possible. I know it’s not like that for you, but for me it is.” Please, let this be enough for him to get it. 

“Why?”

How can he be this dense? “Because I like you!” If he doesn’t get it now, Tetsuya is throwing him out physically, never mind their size difference. He’ll make it work somehow. 

“You… what?”

“I like you, Aomine-kun! So I can’t be around you if I want to get over you! Get out! Now!”

It’s actually ridiculously easy to push a shocked Aomine-kun out of his apartment. 

It does feel much emptier now, but baby steps.

____________________________________

Kobayashi-kun dumps him after a month. While it took him by surprise at the time, now it feels like he should have seen it coming. They weren’t even really dating, not really. Tetsuya just called him when the silence of his apartment became too deafening. Kobayashi-kun deserved better. 

This is not a sentiment their common friends share or even understand. What seemed to them a long time coming turned into a nonhappening, and they have no idea why. 

One of his friends learns about the ordeal and starts him onto a path of endless first dates with people he doesn’t want to meet, but each time he tells himself he has to get over it and finds someone better, for both their sake. The whole thing just leaves him feeling drained. 

____________________________________

It’s three months after that disastrous fight in his apartment that he first talks to Aomine-kun.

The exchange goes like this:

“Oh, Tetsu, hi.”

“Hello, Aomine-kun.”

Then Aomine-kun fidgets and moves on, dragged by his own friends Tetsuya has never met. 

The second and third times go pretty much the same way, chance meetings at basket matches Tetsuya had wanted to see where they barely exchange words. 

The fourth time happens at some café, while he’s trying and failing to look like his latest date holds any interest for him. Aomine-kun walks by, their gazes catch for a second, and then Aomine-kun looks at the whole thing and he gets so obviously uncomfortable that Tetsuya can’t look at him for a second longer. When he turns back toward him, after a few seconds that felt like small eternities, he’s gone. His date didn’t even catch on, too intent on listening himself talk. 

The fifth time is planned. It lurks in the shadows for weeks, the meeting they all arranged long ago during spring break coming closer and closer until Tetsuya decides he has had enough of all of this. He didn’t intend to stop talking to Aomine-kun altogether in the first place, and now it’s been months. They’re going to be friends again, just friends, like they haven’t been since they started college, and everything will be fine.

____________________________________

“Tetsu-kuuuuuun! I missed yoooou!”

“It’s been a while, Momoi-san” is what Tetsuya wants to say, but it’s sadly muffled by Momoi-san’s ample cleavage as she tried to hug him and succeeded in getting his head stuck in her chest. 

The greetings to his other basket comrades mostly go much more smoothly. Mostly, because Kise-kun is also there. He manages to deal with that too and is involved in a somewhat pleasant conversation with Akashi-kun and Midorima-kun about actually caring about your classes, something that’s not as important for some of their friends, when Aomine-kun arrives, as late as he usually is now that Momoi-san doesn’t micromanage him anymore. 

“I won’t let it become awkward” is Tetsuya’s motto for the night, so he goes to greet Aomine-kun, like everyone expects him to, as normally as he usually does. “Good evening, Aomine-kun.”

Aomine-kun stumbles a little, but still manages a feeble “Hey, Tetsu.”

That’s okay. Tetsuya will get him on the program. “Did you even study for your finals, or did you just pray you’d pass your classes, wrote whatever and hoped for the best?”

“Ah! Like Aomine studied.” Kagami-kun just involved himself. Good. 

“Hey! I passed all my classes up to this point! I’m doing okay!”

They all turn toward the source of the high pitched peals of laughter. “I’m sorry Dai-chan, I just, I imagined you as a diligent student and I couldn’t help it.”

Aomine-kun looks so offended, either by the attacks against his scholarly prowess or, more likely, by the image Momoi-san just conjured, that Tetsuya himself has to restrain his own amusement. Everything will be fine. 

____________________________________

“Tetsu, come over here for a while.”

Tetsuya is only human, everything is going pretty well, he drank a little and Aomine-kun has been nice all evening, so he just nods and goes to join Aomine-kun in a more secluded corner of the bar. 

That’s why it feels like such a curve ball when Aomine-kun asks “So, do you still want to date, or are you over that now?”

Sobering up that fast isn’t fun. “What?”

Aomine-kun snorts. “You obviously aren’t avoiding me tonight, so is that over with or are you going back to ignoring me tomorrow?” 

There’s something strange, something he doesn’t understand in this exchange, in the way Aomine-kun stands, tense but like he’s ready to bolt at any second. “I wasn’t avoiding you.” You don’t avoid someone you don’t meet unless you call them, and Aomine-kun wasn’t calling him either. Not that he would have taken the call, he wasn’t ready, but the point stands. 

“Sure felt like it.”

Not letting things get awkward, right. “Then I won’t anymore.” Something has to give. They’re both adults damn it, and this is ridiculous. 

“So, you’re over me?” 

How can someone just… ask this to someone else? Of course not. If only it was this easy. “I’ll be okay.”

“Not my question.”

Tetsuya does not have the patience for this. “It’s still my answer.”

“So, dating me. It’s off the table?”

Wait. Wait a minute. “Aomine-kun, what are you asking?”

“I was miserable okay!? I missed you, and you were going on dates! Kagami kept telling me about it, that asshole.”

Kagami-kun, what the hell. “You used to do that all the time.” Who’s the asshole, Tetsuya wonders.

“I didn’t know it felt this shitty! My bad, I’m sorry about it! I won’t do it again!”

Maybe Tetsuya drank too much. Maybe someone slipped him something. “Are you telling you’re going to be... faithful to me? Are we dating now?”

“I don’t know, are we!? I keep asking and you won’t give a straight answer!”

He’s the one that gets to choose? “Okay then, we are.”

Is that... relief? Might be. “Oh, okay. Good.”

“But you have to come to my study group’s party in two weeks.”

“...What?”

“You have to. It’s not negotiable. If you don’t I’ll keep going on dates.” Not getting a not-boyfriend again, thank you very much. He already went down that road and it wasn’t that nice. He doesn’t feel like revisiting it so soon, or ever really. Either Aomine-kun likes him enough to say so, or he doesn’t. 

“...Fine.”

“...I’m going to tell them you’re my boyfriend.” Last chance to back off. 

“...I got it, thanks. I’ll deal with it.”

Easy to say, but they’ll see when they get there. “Some people might want to hit you. Don’t hurt them back, they don’t deserve it.”

“But I do!?”

“...Not really, but it would still be cathartic.”

Aomine-kun sighs. “What am I doing with my life.”

____________________________________

“So that’s the guy?”

“Yes.”

“Can I hit him?”

“No, you cannot hit him.”

“C’mon, just a little! You’ll like it!”

“No.”

“Damn.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back again for this year's AoKuro Week! Hopefully I'll be able to post something every day. 
> 
> I haven't posted in a while, so you might want to check out [my tumblr](http://deliciousshame.tumblr.com//), where there's a bit more.


End file.
